Show Review: M3 Festival Rocks Baltimore

The 2nd Annual M3 Rocks Festival took place on June 19th in Baltimore, MD at Merriweather Post Pavilion, and if you were a fan of 80’s Rock anywhere in the vicinity, YOU WERE THERE!

The crowd of 6,000 plus (double last years’ attendance), enjoyed 80’s Rock Bands starting at 11:20am on two separate stages for a solid 12 hours. Bands such as Jetboy, Trixter, LA Guns, Bang Tango, Winger & KIX filled the early afternoon hours with hit after hit.

The evening hours saw Nelson, (with Mark Slaughter on lead guitar), Vince Neil, Cinderella, Warrant and TheScorpions finish out the night with the crowd singing every note along the way.

The Festival shows have become a familiar occurrence with 80’s themes being prominent in drawing crowds for promoters and this event was no exception. The majority of the crowd who made it out were definitely children of the 80’s and the women seemed to be dominant in number which was OK by most of the artists I spoke with (or maybe it was the warm weather which made clothing scarce and ripped in true 80’s fashion making them more noticeable).

With the beer and drinks plentiful, the scenery and mood got more interesting as the evening progressed, but the staff at the venue kept things in check, and the crowd was much more into enjoying the music and each other rather than starting brawls. When comments made by 98 Rocks personnel (listed as presenters of the M3 Rocks Festival), to the entire crowd on the main stage were made that “This is and will always be an 80’s Rock Festival!!!,” cheers and beers went up loud enough to be heard all the way to DC.

I had the opportunity to talk with Stacey Blades from LA Guns and Billy Rowe from Jetboy after their sets. Both artists emanated the same feelings towards the festivals and playing at them: ”THEY ARE AWESOME!”

Billy Rowe from Jetboy stated that “having the opportunity to play with the other artists at festivals like M3 allows all of the bands to give everyone a great show while not having our fans go broke in order to come see it”.

Stacey Blades from LA Guns reiterated that feeling as well as said “When we do these shows, we become fans ourselves. We get to see other great artists perform and we feed off of their energy right along with the crowd which just makes our set even stronger, and the fans see just how much we enjoy playing for them in the process. Everybody wins.”

Another aspect for many of the festivals is the offering of a meet and greet package allowing the fans to meet their favorite bands, get pictures and the ever coveted autograph on anything a sharpie can possibly write on, which made for some interesting signatures for sure!

With the popularity of the rock festival as strong as a hurricane and 80’s bands in demand to perform at them, there will be no shortage of opportunities to get your ROCK ON!